A beautiful exchange
by vividfantasy7
Summary: The war was over. They've won. Yet, the lifeless eyes of the being hovering in the air a few feet above the ground, tells a different story.
this was long overdue - Post war/Ghost AU: the war is won, everyone is back to their palace but Talia can see all those who didn't make it

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 _The war was over. They've won. Yet, the lifeless eyes of the being hovering in the air a few feet above the ground, tells a different story._

The Realm is filled with life again.

The defeat of Gramorr is traveling the kingdoms with rising joy at the end of the tyrant, people gathering in celebration in the bigger towns and cities for impromptu festivals. The once grey and lifeless streets fill with joy and light – once suppressed magic awakening in the very earth the citizens walk upon; filling the earth with _love_ as the planet itself recognizes the return of the rightful Queen and her heir. The Ephedian Palace is no different, soldiers and royals, magical princesses and common people mixing in the high of victory – dancing, eating, drinking and most of all _living_. There is joy and laughter among the crowds - an unspoken rule to cast away the grief and mourning for another day - because they've won, they've survived and ought to celebrate this miracle. They'll have plenty of time to mourn the loss they suffered through in the last decade and a half.

The heroes are no exception to this – Iris falls into the arms of her parents once they are brought to the throne room, Auriana and Lyna crushing Talia in a fierce embrace, tears wetting all faces as the last of the monsters disappear; crushing all the immediate pain and grief, the loss of family and friends brought upon them during the last battle against Lord Gramorr. It's easier to forget everything in the high rush of adrenaline and alcohol and the loving arm of long seen family then remember with startling clarity the lifeless body of a friend or a sibling.

And the princesses make good job of that, forgetting for one fleeting night all the loss they suffered and would have to nurse beside their hangover in the morning. They'd face the world tomorrow as is, but right now they'd throw worry to the wind.

Except for Talia. It kind of makes it impossible after all to forget even with the strongest wine when your sister's vacant eyes stare right through you from just a foot away. When her warrior friend mindlessly follows after Iris as if she can still protect the heiress. When the once evil Overlord roams the halls with madness written on his unmasked face and the man who has been her enemy for years wanders around aimlessly between the survivors, as if looking for his sister. When she could see the young twins just floating from one window to the other with empty stares, when soldiers cry in silent pain and the whole building is littered with people long gone or _just gone_ and she can do _nothing_.

She watches with growing panic and trepidation as no one takes notice before she remembers that she's the only one with such ability, that while everyone is burdened with their losses, she's the only one who has to face them so literally. So she does what she does best – she masks her emotions and buries herself in the celebration, eating and drinking and laughing and living and pretending Izira is not there with lifeless eyes following her baby sister around, that she can't see Carissa or Mephisto in the crowds. She does a horrible job of it. Thankfully, alcohol helps a lot.

The next morning comes with the worst hangover of her life – head splitting, light hurting, her stomach emptying and refusing to hold anything. Not that the others fare any better but Talia made it a point to actually get drunk enough to forget anything without a trace or chance to recover from last night. Yet, her sister's empty gaze still haunts her as she takes medicine and elevates her symptoms and takes the day on.

Thankfully, Ephedian ailments are way better than their Earthly counterparts, all of her sickness and aches leaving her under an hour as she meets with the Queen and the royals of the neighboring kingdoms. Meetings proceed one after the other and discussion over discussion of most immediate concerns fill the castle as outside cleaning and renovations begin. The Queen appoints the blunette as the ruler of Xeris as schedules are already started for her coronation – one of the strongest kingdoms can't stay without leader for long after all and the Xerian royal has proved her competency for the task. Of course there are voices against her suitability but are quickly silenced by a cold glare from the _whole_ of the Ephedian and the remaining Xerian royal family.

With the most immediate questions answered the princesses are forced to take a few days to rest and process – whether they want to or not – the last few days of the war. Iris spends it with her newly found family when the parent's responsibilities let them or Aunt Ellen who was brought to Ephedia for the last month as a protection against Gramorr's henchmen. Auriana and Lyna go home to their family but Talia is stuck alone in a palace full of death and ghosts, a family that is too unfamiliar and distant and busy to be of any consolation to her. She visits Iris a few times, the once blonde – now her hair is pink as the magic of her home settled in her blood – mourning with her and drawing the blunette into warm arms along with her step mother's own embrace, weeping and remembering and honoring the dead. Yet she still can't open up, not even to Auriana once she comes back, of the apparitions that not only haunt her dreams but her every waking moment making it impossible to let go and move on.

Days turn into weeks and weeks into months. She is crowned and her adventurous life officially turns into one of procedures and meetings. She's still a warrior but now she fights with words – the wisdom and life experience painfully unsuited for a person her age – in council meetings against old entitled women and men. Like before, she wins many of her battles and her kingdom starts to flourish even as it comes out of the tragedies the war brought upon them, the infrastructure and economy rebirthing from its ashes. She is a detached ruler but fair and merciful and the kingdom soon learns to accept and love her – after all they can see the love she has for the country and its people, know what she sacrificed and lost for their freedom.

The ghosts slowly start to disappear. As their remains are put to rest, as those responsible have received punishment the apparition one by one dissolve into nothing with a warm shimmer; for one last moment seeming to take in the world and commit it to memory. She sees many parents tailing their children, spouses and siblings sharing a last unseen smile with family as they finally find peace and turn into nothing. The same goes for Carissa as she smiles at her mother who hugs the girl's brother to her chest mourning the loss of her only daughter – she forcefully has to push away the memory of porcelain skin bathed in scarlet, a thousand dark crystal shards raining down as Carissa pushes Iris out of harm's way, giving her life up in the process - and Mephisto who she sees crouching before Praxina during one of her visits to the sorceress, before he disappears in a shimmer of light. The dark crystal user is under heavy surveillance in the weeks between the final battle and her departure to her home country – both her and Mephisto changed sides when they learned of the true fate of their family when Gramorr wanted the twins for himself and their parents, against the wishes of their Queen, refused to hand over their only children. The twins' reason was purely revenge and while they had plenty on their ledger, their actions mostly took place on Earth and thus they were generally unknown to their realm, which served a good case for Praxina when she was sentenced for her crimes against the crown. Not that she cared much – Talia remembered the young sorceress' broken form clutching onto her brother's lifeless body, an unholy scream and an ancient dark spell leaving her lips in the same breath bringing Gramorr to his knees with her wrath before she collapsed onto the ground unconscious. They thought her dead too, only realizing after the fight was over that there was still breath in her. Mephisto had been tailing after Praxina since then, with the same vacant eyes every ghost possessed until the day the dark crystal user was leaving as per her punishment of exile - which really only meant that she was to go home and finally away from the place bringing her so much misery – where he said his last good bye to the most important person in his life and disappeared.

Talia turns to sit on her throne, her eyes skimming over the ghostly form of her sister as she takes in the room's occupants. There are delegates from different kingdoms vying for alliance and marriage (she was kind of a celebrity, what with being a hero and one of the youngest queens ever), that she has nor the inclination or the patience to entertain even the thought of – these were countries that subdued to Gramorr without him ever attacking or threatening them, quite a few of them siding with the dark sorcerer even before his takeover – and thankfully nor does her council or people. She dismisses them easily, reminding them of their previous decisions when they start their manipulation of history to their favor. The day ends in relative peace but once the doors of her chambers close her façade falls and she is a mess. The dead still haunt her around every corner, ghosts gathering around her with unseeing eyes and she is unable to do anything but observe – after all, only ghosts that haunt, that attack and cause general dismay can be exercised. Those who'd taken their last glance at the world and stayed, became vengeful spirits that caused only trouble and suffering. (A part of her desperately wishes for Gramorr to turn out like this so she could have one last revenge, one last chance to avenge her sister, her family, her kingdom.) But until then, they would wander and she'd be powerless to help.

Like she is powerless to help her own sister. She stares at the translucent form as it stares back with blank eyes, never a word leaving her lips. She wishes she could at least communicate with Izira – that would make that experience the slightest bit bearable – but knows it's the worst thing she could do. So she pretends she can't see, that her most important person is not there a few feet away, in arm's reach – because if she acknowledges, if she speaks, her sister might stay when her moment came and Talia couldn't afford that.

But that doesn't stop the memories flooding her mind and clouding her vision. The elder Xerian's azure robes coloring a deep shade of scarlet as a crystal spear pierces through her middle, only stopping millimeters before Talia's face. She doesn't have time to process that the white haired woman just threw her body between her and a rain of shards that would have surely cost her life only to summon the blades to her staff mid swipe and behead the beast lunging at her heavily injured sister. She registers in the back of her mind that Gramorr is vanquished by Iris using the power of the crown and that Auriana is by her side assessing the damage and trying to keep Izira alive. But it's hopeless, she lost too much blood and there is a fast acting poison – neither the princess' own magic or the Voltan's medical spells can keep her alive for more than a few minutes. She cries and begs for her big sister to stay, to not leave her (not again, she couldn't, _wouldn't_ survive it this time) but the elder just sends a small sad smile in the bluenette's way before she asks them to bring Praxina closer. The young sorceress is still alive by some miracle but her life is leaving her. Izira takes the girl's pale hand into her own and transfers her remaining magic into her. It saves Praxina's life.

Talia takes a deep breath as the memories come to a halt and tears spring to her eyes. After that she fought nail and teeth for Praxina's life not to be taken as punishment – however little she had left, Izira did give up her life and magic to save the dark crystal user and she refused to have her sister's final sacrifice be in vain. Her tears spill over as her eyes fall once again on Izira's form and guilt rushes over her in waves. Her sister died protecting her. The what-ifs fill her head once again, like they do every night, every free moment the matter of state, her people or the planet aren't there to occupy, to distract her mind. She should have seen it coming. Should have raised a shield, a wall against the attack. Shouldn't have let her mind wander even for a split second during battle, even if it was to assess her companions state. Than Izira would be alive, she wouldn't have to protect her baby sister who wasn't _concentrating_ , who was _distracted_ during a fight. Than Izira would be here and alive, she would be Queen – the perfect leader to their broken kingdom, wise and good and _everything that Talia isn't_. Instead they are stuck with her – a little girl who spent her teenage years in relative safety on a different planet and away from the war they were fighting in. Later she always knows she is downplaying her role in that moment of weakness and self-hatred, the severity of her fights, that her life was in just as much danger there than here – but when she remembers and contemplates the scenarios of could-bes and better outcomes these facts disappear and only crushing guilt remains. It eats her up, destroying her from the inside. Her insecurities come back with a vengeance but now she has not the assurance that everything would be alright – she grew up in a war and on a battlefield, the optimism and innocence that she should have to look at the world with robbed from her and nothing could bring it back. Not when her parents were dead, not when she caused her sister's death not once but twice.

She collapses to the ground as sobs wrack her body, her royal robes wrinkling as she cries and cries unfailingly for hours. Yet, her sister is still there, unseeing and Talia is unable let go of her grief. Not when it refuses to let go of her.

Unsurprisingly, it's Auriana who figures it out first.

The Ephedian Palace is in an upheaval – something is roaming, haunting the halls and corridors. At first she thinks it's Gramorr, finally turning into a vengeful spirit, but it's only a handful of soldiers and it takes no real effort to vanquish them. That's when the Voltan first realizes and swears loudly, as Talia's eyes still follow the remaining ghosts with a haunted look even after the spirits had been exercised, and she drags her friend into an empty room – Iris and Lyna dutifully following after them. She confesses than – Izira, the ghosts, her breakdowns, her insecurities, everything. She sits and cries in the warm embrace of her friends as her eyes connect with once vibrant purple and her heart breaks again.

She is not entirely surprised when the day comes that Gramorr turns and attacks them once again (she did wish for it after all). It takes genuine and vicious effort and time to vanquish his vengeful ghost, the man having been a powerful user of magic in his life, but she defeats him one last time. A pressure releases from her shoulders, the world becoming just a tad lighter. She knows she shouldn't have desired revenge, that it is not something her sister would approve of yet it fills her with satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment as the macabre form disappears with a silent cry and the world is finally rid of his curse. Only, as they realize not a minute after Talia's magic circle dies, it was never his curse that hinged death upon their realm as a form emerges from the darkness of the floor. It is an undeniably beautiful and fragile body yet the immense aura of darkness emanating tells a different story.

A swirl of ruby and emerald encased in black meets her golden orbs and she is paralyzed as they bore into her. A disturbing sense of fear settles in the room as the being approaches the Xerian royal, long fingers caressing her face in a sickening caricature of caring emotion before it falls to her neck and squeezes. Her vision turns black as darkness enters her blood, the demon's magic working its way into her system in agonizing pain. Suddenly he is blasted away and Iris' shanilla form burns bright in the chamber's forced darkness but it takes no time to recover and all the princesses are forced outside a barrier and she is stuck inside. The blunette can see her friends' valiant effort to shatter the veil separating them, but this being is too powerful, too ancient, too otherworldly for them to stand a chance – she just prays it will not go after the girls if she fails to stop it.

A battle ensues and Talia soon realizes only attacks that are meant to fight the supernatural cause any damage so she switches to singing and near white magic to counter its attacks and launch her own. Yet she is painfully underpowered against something that has centuries if not millennia of experience and she soon finds herself on her knees, spent and nearly powerless as it stands before her ready to deal the final blow. Only it doesn't. She's not sure what has its attention, what it is defending itself from – but then she sees as her sister's form comes into her vision. Izira throws spell after spell, counters attack after attack, her form losing its translucent property and by the time she deals the last blow and the spirit is vanquished she looks human again.

The room is deathly quiet as the veil lifts and she is suddenly aware that everyone can see her sister. She's surprised for only a moment before the pieces fall into place – Izira was one of the strongest magic users born in centuries and she had the same gift as her; it was no wonder she would carry her abilities over even to death. Nor that she would regain that last moment of awareness – and extend it to _minutes_ \- to save her sister.

The elder royal stares at her for a long moment as a warm smile splits her lips and she disappears in a shimmer of light and the Queen of Xeris' tears come unbidden – her sister moved on and finally she could start to mourn and heal.

There is much flurry after that, many questions asked and only a few answered until Iris' mother saves them and has them escorted to her daughter's chambers under orders of rest and her wrath upon anyone daring to harass them anymore for the day and the girls spend the rest of the day like back on Earth (something they haven't had time or opportunity for since they came back) after one final good cry – singing and playing and chatting and gossiping. Lyna and Auriana gush about all the boys they've met since home and Iris definitely sparkles as she recounts her interactions with her parents and all the new things she learnt about her home. Talia just leans back, content to just listen and laugh with them as the nostalgia of the small peace they had under the war fills the room and suddenly everything is alright. A fire lights in them with undefeatable conviction – they fought a war, they survived.

And now they will _live_.

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now, it is my time to ask, am I kicked out of the fandom yet?


End file.
